Washington Post –

Tuesday’s election will bring the count of women in Congress to more than 100 for the first time, between both the House and the Senate. The number of female U.S. senators will either remain at 20, the same record high as set in the 2012 elections, or could reach 21 if Democrat Mary Landrieu wins the runoff election in Louisiana.

Meanwhile, the number of women in the U.S. House of Representatives now stands at 81, according to numbers tallied by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University, which tracks the number of women in elected office. Another four races involving female candidates, according to CAWP, are still too close to call — meaning the final tally could end up as high as 85 women in the House, compared with 79 in the 113th Congress.

And yet, despite this milestone, the presence of women in Congress still doesn’t appear poised to grow by more than a trickle. Before the election, women held 99 seats in Congress. The post-election total stands at 101, and could at most reach 106.

All told, even if all four of those tight House races go to the female candidate, the ratio of women in the House wouldn’t quite reach 20 percent. “This is still very slow growth,” said Debbie Walsh, CAWP’s director. “If the goal is political parity for women — for women to be represented in Congress in proportion to their population — we’re still not close.”

The number of new women elected, versus incumbents, is also a figure that sheds light on the rate of growth. And this year won’t set any records. Thehigh water mark was 1992, when 24 new women were elected. In 2012, there were 19; and in 2010, there were 13. The 2014 count currently stands at 11 new women, though it could reach 13 depending on two races that are too close to call.

Moreover, the shift in power in the Senate to Republicans could affect the number of women in leadership roles on committees. Before the midterms, Walsh said, “women were 30 percent of the majority party [in the Senate], so you saw women in really important and powerful leadership positions,” chairing many major committees. “But there’s a loss of leadership that comes in this partisan shift.” Even with the election of Republicans Joni Ernst in Iowa and Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia, there will still only be six GOP women in the Senate.

Photo – ABC News – After winning a special election, Democrat Alma Adams of North Carolina will take office next week as the 100th female member of Congress — the most women Congress has ever had.